


Good Morning, Pearlie

by Smellerbug



Category: Splatoon
Genre: And somehow this ended up being my longest one shot yet lmao, F/F, Fluff, I just wanted to write something cute and fluffy for a good pal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 11:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17446184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smellerbug/pseuds/Smellerbug
Summary: Pearl is stuck at home while Marina leaves on a work trip for a week. Instead of moping around, Pearl decides to plan a surprise for Marina when she gets home.





	Good Morning, Pearlie

  
Pearl’s eyes slowly fluttered open from her dreams, awoken by the sensation of something warm and damp on her forehead. As the sleep faded from her vision and she could focus, she peered upwards and saw dark skin and long, teal tipped tentacles, and realized what she felt had been a soft kiss from her girlfriend, who was laying beside her, propped up on her elbow and smiling at her. Pearl grumbled incoherently, her mind still hazy with sleep. She sat up slightly, remaining mostly under the warmth and safety of the blanket, and allowed herself a drawn out, exaggerated stretch and less than graceful yawn. 

Marina sat up as well, resting on her knees next to her partner. “Good morning, Pearlie,” she uttered sweetly. Pearl just grumbled a little more, unable to say much of anything just yet. Marina brought a hand to her mouth and giggled. “You’re so cute.” 

Rubbing the remaining grogginess from her eyes, she looked around their room to fully ground herself in reality and not in dreamland. The morning sun shone through the window, bathing their room in a soft, warm light. Pearl turned her attention to the smiling girl next to her. She was in a sports bra and shorts, and the light glinted off of her long, gently swaying tentacles. “G’morning babe,” Pearl finally managed to mumble, scooching lazily over to the octoling, wrapping her arms around her torso and resting her head on Marina’s shoulder. “Wh-what time is it?” 

Marina returned the embrace, stroking Pearl’s cream and pink bobbed tentacles. “A little after 8,” she responded. 

“Too early,” Pearl groaned, already feeling as if sleep could take her again at any moment as she nestled comfortably against the DJ. “Can we sleep a lil’ bit longer?” She whined. 

“I wish we could, Pearlie, but I have to get ready to leave,” Marina stated softly, still stroking the older girl’s head.

 _Leave?_ Pearl thought, her not fully awake mind taking its sweet time to process and remember things. After several seconds of intense focus and worry, she suddenly remembered. “Oh. Yeah…” 

“Yeah…” Marina echoed forlornly. “It’ll only be for a week though! I’ll be back before you know it.” 

Pearl’s grip on the other girl’s torso tightened as she buried her face in Marina’s chest. Some very muffled sounds followed. “I’m sorry honey, did you say something?” Marina inquired. 

Her hold on her partner still tight, Pearl looked up and pouted. “I said not allowed. I’m coming with you.”

Marina chuckled. “If I remember correctly, you were the one who agreed to stay and do the announcements while I’m away.”

Pearl huffed. “Ughhh you know I have trouble paying attention during work meetings! Half the time I just say ‘yeah’ and nod until the meeting’s over. They shouldn’t have to actually hold me to that!” 

“Well they are, and you’re staying,” Marina added, her patience beginning to waver as she looked down at her phone. “I’m sorry, baby, but I really have to get ready if I don’t want to miss my flight.” She began to pry Pearl’s arms from around her waist, and the smaller girl reluctantly let her. Free from her snuggly prison, the octoling stood up and walked over to the dresser, searching for the clothes she planned to wear today. At the base of the dresser was a bag she had already packed for the duration of her trip. 

Sitting criss-cross in their bed was a mopy Pearl. “Guess I should really pay attention to those meetings more, huh…” She sighed, coming to terms with the fact that she was stuck here and it was her own fault, while Marina got to go to some cool place and do important things. 

“I guess so,” Marina retorted, knowingly, her back still to Pearl as she continued to shuffle through her clothes. “I know you’re bummed, but this is going to be great for us! Trident is a huge music website! If this goes well, it can help our music reach even more people, not just here in Inkopolis! I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly, and maybe we can even get some new top of the line equipment out of it if I play my cards right.” 

“Yeah I know…” Pearl murmured. “I’ll just miss you, is all… We haven’t been apart from each other for this long since we met.” 

Marina turned back to face the grumpy girl on their large bed. “I’m going to miss you too. But I’ll call you every day, I promise.” She sauntered over to Pearl, a few folded articles of clothing in one hand, until she stood in front of the sitting girl. Bringing a hand to the smaller girl’s chin, she tilted her face up until their eyes met. Pearl’s brow was furrowed, but it relaxed upon seeing the warmth in Marina’s green and pink eyes. “And then I’ll be back in no time and it’ll be like I never left, okay?” 

Pearl sighed. She knew she was being immature. “Okay,” she muttered. 

A small smile graced Marina’s lips as she leaned in and placed a fleeting kiss on Pearl’s. “See, it’ll be okay. I’ve gotta shower and finish getting ready, hon.” Pearl nodded, and with that Marina scurried out of their bedroom and to their bathroom. Pearl heard the sound of running water, and could faintly hear music as she assumed Marina had put on what sounded like the Squid Sisters as she got ready. Marina’s voice rose and fell as she sang along while she cleaned up, and Pearl just sat alone with her thoughts for a while, enjoying the sound of Marina’s slightly muffled singing. 

A whole week without hearing that voice. She wouldn’t even be able to wake up to the sounds of “Good morning, Pearlie,” like she’d gotten so used to hearing almost every morning. There was no better way she could think to start her day than hearing the girl of her dreams say that to her, laying next to her in bed. She thought back to early on in their relationship, before they were even dating, just roommates and bandmates, still getting to know each other. Marina was beginning to get the hang of Inkling, but it had still given her some trouble. One morning, as Pearl got out of bed and walked out into the hall towards her kitchen, she bumped into Marina who was also just leaving her room. The octoling shyly grinned at her, and quietly and intently muttered, “Good morning, Pearlie.” Marina’s accent was still strong underneath the words, and adding the ‘ie’ to the end of Pearl’s name made it a little easier for her to pronounce, but there was clear pride in Marina’s face after she said it. Pearl recalled grinning and the heat rise to her face. 

She remembered uttering an awkward, “Uh, morning, Marina,” and seeing Marina smile. It hadn’t taken long after that for Marina, the brilliant girl that she was, to quickly get Inkling down. It never failed to impress Pearl how she switched to the language so easily, and now almost used it exclusively. Thinking back, Marina had tried to teach Pearl some Octarian, but the inkling struggled with it, and as Marina became more and more fluent in Inkling, the need for her to learn kind of faded to the background, forgotten. She couldn’t help but feel a little bad, thinking about that. Did Marina ever get sad not hearing or using her native tongue, she wondered. As Marina’s singing drifted on Pearl’s ears and she heard the running water stop, she decided that instead of moping around for the week, she was going to pick up where she left off and do her best to learn Octarian. At least it would keep her busy and make the week go by more quickly. This kind of thing was never easy for the rapper, but if it would make Marina happy, it was more than worth the hard work.

As Pearl sat there contemplating her plan, Marina entered their room, fully dressed, and the fresh scent of lavender got Pearl’s attention, breaking her from her thoughts. “Do I look okay?” Marina asked. She was wearing a sleeveless maroon turtleneck, glasses, and dark-washed, fashionably distressed jeans.

“You look great, Mar,” Pearl responded with a smile. 

Marina grinned. “You seem to be in better spirits all of a sudden. Where’d my grumpy girlfriend go?” 

“Oh don’t worry, she’s still here,” Pearl teased, “I just figured there’s no use being a fuckin’ baby about it. Like you said, this is a sick opportunity, and you’ll be back in no time. I’ll be fine.” 

“I know you will,” Marina added. She looked down at her phone again to check the time. “Shoot, I really have to go!” She leaned in and wrapped Pearl in a warm hug and placed a lingering kiss on her partner’s lips. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end, as it was the last they’d get for a week, and so they savored the feeling. Marina eventually pulled away. “I love you,” she exclaimed, looking Pearl in her golden, starry eyes. 

“I love you too,” Pearl stated. They held each other’s gaze for a few more seconds before Marina took a deep breath and turned to leave, grabbing her bag on the way out. As her footsteps grew farther away, she heard Marina call back, “I’ll text you when I get there!”

“You fuckin’ better! I miss you already!” She heard Marina’s laugh, followed by the sound of their front door opening and closing, and then… silence. Pearl sat like that for a few minutes, before plopping back down in bed with a dramatic exhale. At least she didn’t have to go to work today. They still had to set up some guest announcers for the rest of the week, so she had gotten the rest of today off. Glancing up at the wall above their bed, her eyes lingered on a poster of Lil’ Judd, dangling from a tree branch. The words “Hang in there” were printed on it. Pearl sighed. “I’m gonna try, little dude,” she mumbled, before allowing sleep to take her yet again. 

It wasn’t until the early afternoon until Pearl finally mustled the motivation to get out of bed. First thing she did was check her phone for a message from Marina. The DJ had texted her a couple of hours ago, letting her know that she made it there safely. The inkling sent a now rather late, “Glad ur safe. Love u,” before forcing herself out of bed. She didn’t bother getting dressed, instead simply wrapping the blanket around herself tightly before scuttling to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and just stood for a long time, scanning through the contents inside. There were eggs, various fruits and vegetables, plenty to work with to make a tasty and nutritious meal. She pondered her options, before settling on leftover takeout and a glass of pulpy orange juice. Without so much as heating up her meal, she grabbed a fork and plopped down on the couch, putting on some trashy television. 

Upon finishing her food, Pearl slouched on the couch a little longer, scrolling mindlessly through her phone before groaning and sitting up. As much as she could have been content vegging out for the rest of the night, she had a mission. She checked her phone. 1:00 PM. The library was still open for another few hours, she had plenty of time. Understanding that it was unfortunately not socially acceptable to go out in public with nothing but a blanket, underwear, and a t-shirt, Pearl hurried back to their room and threw on some more respectable clothes. She decided on a beanie, a black band tea, jeans, and boots. She cleaned herself up a bit and finally left on her self-imposed quest. 

The Inkopolis Public Library was a relatively short walk from their apartment, a convenience that Marina frequently took advantage of. In the couple of years since she’d been in Inkopolis, the DJ must have almost read through the entire fantasy and engineering sections. As soon as she had gotten Inkling down pact, she could knock out an entire book in little more than a day. As Pearl stepped through the large oak doors, she was immediately greeted by the overwhelming scent of well-worn and loved books. That musty, earthy, almost vanilla-like smell never appealed to Pearl much before, but it was one of Marina’s favorite scents, and as such Pearl had become quite fond of it by association. Accompanying the scent was the impressive sight of the library interior, all warm lighting, dark earth tones in the wood and furniture, several visible floors filled with shelves upon shelves of books. It was probably one of the oldest buildings in the city, and even Pearl had to admit there was something enchanting about it. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Houzuki!” A jovial, gruff old nautilus exclaimed, quietly but purposefully so as to be heard without disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of the library. He was a squat and round old man, barely taller than Pearl. His shelled head stuck out of an amber wool sweater-vest with a blue button up underneath. 

“‘Sup Ernest,” Pearl responded with a smile, nodding her head at him, and strutted over to the counter that he stood behind. The Houzuki’s were among the library’s most prominent donors. Combining that with how frequently Pearl accompanied Marina here, her face was well known and more than welcome within its seasoned walls. 

“What can I help you with today?” He inquired pleasantly. “I must say, I’m surprised to see you here without Miss Iida.” As he spoke, the countless, thin tentacles that shrouded his mouth wiggled sporadically and although it was hidden, his smile came through in his voice. “I don’t think you’ve actually checked a book out since your dads brought you here when you were just a little squid,” Ernest teased. 

“Oh yeah, Marina had to leave for the week for a work thing, so I figured I’d, uh, need something to keep me occupied til’ she gets back. I mean Marina’s always got her nose in books and shit all the time, so there’s gotta be something to it, right?” 

Ernest beamed, or at least Pearl assumed he did. It was hard to tell under all those tendrils. “I never thought I’d see the day!” he jested. “Well if you’d follow me, I’d be happy to show you to our substantial collection of sci-fi novels! I’ll even recommend you the most action-packed and gritty options!” He gestured for the small inkling to follow behind him.  
Pearl pondered this for a moment, her train of thought wandering from her linguistic quest to scenes of cephalopods in sleek space-suits, darting through space in a high octane spaceship fight, lasers flying every which way. She was suddenly pulled from her imagination as Ernest, upon noticing she wasn’t trailing behind him, stopped and asked, “Are you coming, dearie?” 

“Oh, uh, yeah, sorry!” She stuttered, beginning to shuffle after the rotund nautilus before stopping in her tracks, remembering the reason she actually came here. “Shit, actually I was hoping you could help me find some-” 

Coming to a sudden halt and turning to face the inkling, clearly a little out of her depth, he leaned in close and quietly suggested, “Ohhhhhh I see. Don’t worry, I know exactly what you’re looking for.” He chuckled and winked. 

“Um, you do?” Pearl responded, unsure where this was headed. 

Still leaning close, Ernest continued under his breath, “Oh yes! You don’t have to be embarrassed, it’s okay dear. I know you’re probably gonna feel a little lonely this week. Old Ernest has got you covered.” _Oh no._ “Nothing helps the time fly by like a nice steamy romance!” Pearl was so dumbfounded at hearing these words come out of this unassuming, old nautilus’s mouth that she was totally at a loss, unable to formulate a coherent sentence. Instead, the old cephalopod continued eagerly. “Between you and me, they’re some of my favorites. Don’t tell anyone though, they won’t let me live it down! Might I suggest Crustacean Temptation? It’s about a-” 

Pearl’s mind finally caught up to her mouth in pure desperation to prevent Ernest from going on with whatever he was about to say. “Uhhhhh Ernest my dude, you’ve got the way wrong idea! I mean no judgement here, power to ya or whatever, but uhhh… yeah.” she spurted. 

Ernest looked a little taken aback, before coughing and averting his gaze to the floor, embarrassed. “Oh, well then... Pardon me. What, um, what was it you were looking for then?” 

“I was, uh, just wondering if you’ve got anything here to help with learning Octarian?” Pearl inquired. 

“Oh! That’s not quite the exciting kind of thing I would have thought would be your first introduction back into the world of reading, but I suppose we can find something for you.” 

“Heh, yeah. I just thought it’d be... interesting?” Pearl proposed. 

“Hmmm. Very well then! Follow me.” Ernest started scuttling towards a nearby staircase, and Pearl followed closely behind. After walking for a few seconds in silence, save for a little tune that Ernest hummed as he walked, he spoke again. “I apologize in advance, by the way. The Octarian section isn’t very impressive. I guess that’s what happens when the only people that spoke it were exiled underground, and it hasn’t been used much on the surface since. But it’s been so long that, unless you were as old as me, most people wouldn’t even recognize an Octoling if they saw one.” He paused for a second as they made their way up another flight of stairs. Where was he going with this, Pearl wondered. “Even if they saw one’s face on the news every single day.” 

Pearl wasn’t sure how she felt about what the round man was implying that he knew as he continued to scurry ever forward. Before she could say anything, he muttered again, lowering his voice somewhat. “You know, now it hasn’t gained much traction, but there is a rumor in some small circles that Miss Iida is an Octoling.” The way he said this was so nonchalant, as if he was just making small talk. There was no malice or plotting in his tone. Before Pearl could utter a rebuttal, the old nautilus stopped in front of a somewhat dustier bookshelf, tucked away in the corner of the language section. He turned back to face the confused inkling. “That’s all just a rumor, of course,” he added cheerily, winking at her. “Anyway, here we are!” He kneeled down and plucked a fairly large, hardcover book from the shelf. Lifting it to his face, he blew the dust from it’s cover and offered it to Pearl. 

She took it and peered over it. The slightly faded, green cover had a simple illustration of an octopus and a squid with a combined speech bubble coming from both of them with the title, An Inkling’s Guide to Octarian. It looked dated, but not ancient. She opened it up, and was surprised to find a CD included. “Huh, um, thanks.” She smiled at him a little nervously, still a little put off by the conversation about Marina. “Hey, uh, Ernest, could you do me a solid and… not mention that rumor to anyone?” 

“Oh I promise I would never!” He responded, taken aback at the suggestion. “You and Miss Iida are dear friends! I wouldn’t want any unsavory types thinking anything dangerous about you two. I apologize if I worried you with my rambling and made you think otherwise.”

Pearl let out a long sigh of relief. “Thanks, dude. And I promise I won’t tell anyone about your interest in, uh… sexy lobsters.” He chuckled and looked at her warmly, nodding. The two of them began making their way towards the checkout counter. Checking out took longer than she thought, as she didn’t even think about the fact that she’d have to actually sign up for her own library card. Before turning to leave, Pearl smiled and said, “Now that I’ve got one of these cards, maybe I’ll give one of those sci-fi books a shot some time. You made ‘em sound pretty fuckin cool, not gonna lie.” 

Ernest giggled. “I hope so!” He leaned in close, a mischievous glint in his old eyes. “One of these days I’ll sell you on Crustacean Temptation,” he joked. 

Pearl snorted. “Whatever you say, dude.” She turned on her heel and sauntered towards the door. “Later, Ernest!” She called over her shoulder with a wave. 

“Good luck! I’m sure Miss Iida will appreciate your hard work!” His voice called after her as she walked out onto the street, the old doors swinging shut behind her. 

After another short walk, Pearl had made it home. It was still only mid afternoon and she had plenty of time to get started studying if she wanted to really impress and surprise Marina when she got home. Octarian doesn’t just learn itself, especially when the squid trying to learn it had next to no attention span and hadn’t sat down to just read since grade school. She stretched out on the couch, the book open on her lap, her laptop open behind it. She popped the CD into the disk drive on her laptop, put a pair of headphones on, and got to work. It was slow going, and her mind fought against her, trying to wander and tempt her into doing anything that wasn’t this, but she persevered. 

It was dark outside by the time her phone and computer rang and Marina’s face popped up in a little bubble at the top corner of the monitor. She paused the Octarian lesson, and marked the page of the book before closing it and clicking on the bubble. The other girl’s face popped up in real time as she answered the video call. Marina grinned at her. She was wearing her glasses and an Off the Hook tour shirt that they often used for pajama shirts. From what Pearl could see of the space behind her partner, she seemed to be in a cozy, expensive hotel room. “Hey, Pearlie!” Marina exclaimed, her tentacles waving enthusiastically. She paused for a moment before adding, “You look tired, are you okay?” 

“Oh, yeah! I’m fine! Just, uh, crankin’ out some fresh rhymes. Are you havin’ fun? Everything going alright so far?”

“Oooh I can’t wait to come up with some beats for them! And it hasn’t been too exciting yet! Today was mostly just a customary tour of their company, and lots of shaking hands and smiling and nodding.” She sighed, clearly a little exhausted herself. “They did hook me up with a nice place to stay though! It’s not the biggest room but it’s comfy!” 

“Bet it’d be more comfy with me...” Pearl mumbled under her breath. 

Marina still managed to hear her and giggled. “I know, sweetie. But I hope you still managed to have a good day! What’d you do?” 

Pearl thought for a second before responding. “Oh, ya know. Slept. Chilled. Went to the library. Wrote some stu-”

“You? You went to the library? On your _own?_ ” Marina cut her off. 

“Uhhh yeah, I guess I did. I was bored and wanted to, uh, give books a shot, or whatever. Nothing really caught my eye, though. Got to chat with Ernest, too. He’s a weird old guy, but I like him. Don’t tell him I told you, but he recommended this book called-”

“Oh no, was it Crustacean Temptation?” Marina interrupted with a snort. “Yeah he tried to get me to read that one too! I mean good for him, being proud of his work.” 

“Wait, his work? He wrote that one?!” Pearl crowed. “Oh my cod! He didn’t tell me that!” Between a fit of giggles, she added, “That’s too fuckin’ good holy shit. What a funky dude.” 

Marina snickered. “Well I’m glad you had fun.” A drawn out yawn escaped her after saying that. “Sorry to cut our call short, but I should probably sleep. I have to be up pretty early tomorrow. Looks like you should do the same. You’ve got work tomorrow still, afterall!”

“I’ll go to bed soon, don’t worry. I’ve got my teal Off the Hook octo plush to keep me company.” 

Marina smiled a sleepy smile. “And I wouldn’t dream of leaving without my pink lil squid plush. Get some rest, sweetie. I love you, I’ll call you tomorrow.” 

In the middle of a yawn, Pearl responded, “I love you too, babe. G’night.” Marina blew a sleepy kiss, and the inkling mimed catching it and putting it in her bra with a wink. The DJ rolled her eyes and giggled before the picture froze, then vanished, the call now over. Figuring Marina was probably right, Pearl decided to pack it in for the night. She’d pick up her studies after work tomorrow. She closed her laptop and wandered back to bed, burying herself in the blankets and clutching her plushie close. 

The next several days passed by quickly and uneventfully enough. Pearl would wake up, go to work and do the announcements as normal. One of the days, the guest announcer was Marie of the Squid Sisters, and they actually had a cool and entertaining dynamic. Afterwards, they got lunch and caught up, since it had been a little while since they’d had time to hang out between both of their busy schedules. Another day featured just Mr. Grizz. He announced the maps, his voice dryly emanating from his iconic bear statue, almost entirely uninterested until it was time to talk about Salmon Run. It was practically just a big GrizzCo. advertisement. The other guests were mostly just various members of other popular Inkopolis bands, and Pearl did surprisingly enjoy getting to hang out with them all. Save for Grizz, of course. He didn’t count. 

After work, she’d go straight home and crack open the library book, pop her headphones on, and get in the study zone. She read and repeated phrases out loud, over and over again, slowly but surely starting to get at least a basic grasp on the Octarian language. She didn’t need to be fluent by the time Marina got back, just competent enough to say a few phrases. Marina could help her with the rest for real afterwards. And every night, she’d facetime with Marina, both of them talking about their days and enjoying seeing the other’s faces and hearing their voices before going to bed. 

At last, it was the last day of her solitary week. The alarm blared, startling Pearl from her sleep. _“WHERE IS THE LIBRARY?”_ she garbled in Octarian as she shot up, shocked by the harsh sound. She groaned and grouchily scrambled for her phone to shut off that cod-awful noise. Upon finding it she immediately slammed a finger on the off button for the alarm, but not before noticing the name she had given the alarm. “pick bae up at airport.” It was five in the morning but upon being reminded that Marina was coming home today, the grogginess nearly immediately abandoned the small inkling. She leapt out of bed, and completed her morning routine in no time. Within fifteen minutes she had brushed her teeth, showered, and gotten dressed. She grabbed her phone, threw some earbuds in, snatched her keys and darted out of the house to catch the train. 

After the first night, Pearl had burned the CD to her laptop and transferred it to her phone so she could practice on her way to and from work throughout the week. She figured the short train ride to the airport would be a good time to get some last minute practice in. She didn’t care that she probably looked a little crazy to the other passengers on the train as she sat alone, a deep concentration in her expression, mumbling random phrases of what to most of them was total nonsense. In sloppy Octarian, she repeated basic phrases such as, _“My name is Pearl… I am liking music… Do you want to be grabbing coffee with me?”_ and other such simple conversational pieces. She felt fairly proud of herself, having stuck with the challenge that she’d given herself for this week. 

Before long, the train came to a stop at the airport and she got off. She was hit by the crisp morning air, and could see just on the horizon the faint pinkish glow as the sun was preparing to rise. Pearl made her way through the sliding doors of the building and to arrivals. She still had a little while until Marina’s flight was supposed to land, so she took a seat and waited. She put on some music, and before she knew it, her eyes drifted closed. 

“Pearlie,” Pearl heard Marina say in her dreams. It was quiet and distant. “Pearlieeee,” it came again, louder now, before one more, “Pearl!” accompanied by a slight shake. Her golden eyes lazily opened and she saw Marina standing in front of her, her luggage at her side, with a hand resting on Pearl’s shoulder. There was the sound of chatter all around them as other Inkopolis residents were reunited with friends and family. Marina giggled. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” 

“Shit, uh, I mean,” she paused for a second, remembering the stuff she’d learned over the past week. Slowly but confidently, she looked at Marina and gave her a nervous smile as she said in Octarian, _“Good morning, Rina.”_ Taking another second to piece together the next sentence, her brow furrowed in concentration, she added, _“Sorry I uh… fell… to sleeping?”_ She knew that wasn’t perfect but it got the meaning across. 

Marina’s teal eyes widened and a smile spread over her face. “Was that… Octarian?” She leaned over and wrapped Pearl in tight hug, lifting her from her chair. “Aww, is that what you’ve been doing all this week? And why you went to the library? I thought you’d given up on learning it!” 

_“I wanted to be surprising you!”_ Pearl exclaimed into her girlfriend’s shoulder. Marina chuckled, and kissed her partner’s cheek. _“I love you, and… was missing you.”_  
  
_“I love you too. Thank you for doing this, it means a lot,”_ Marina whispered to Pearl, still hugging her. 

_“You are welcome,_ uhh…” she paused again, and then in Inkling finished with, “shit, sorry I don’t know the Octarian equivalent for ‘babe.’” 

Finally releasing Pearl from her embrace and taking her hand, Marina laughed, returning to Inkling as well. “It’s okay, we’ve got plenty of time to practice. Let’s go home, I’ve missed our bed and you look like you could still use some more sleep too. And later you can show off what else you learned, how’s that sound?” 

Pearl nodded and smiled warmly. “That sounds nice,” she agreed. 

Marina suddenly leaned in close and lowered her voice so only Pearl could hear, then. “And maybe, just maybe, I can teach you some stuff that I know for a fact wouldn’t have been in whatever book you were using to teach yourself.” She winked and Pearl felt a hot blush rush to her face. She quickly took hold of Marina’s luggage with her unheld hand, suddenly very ready to leave. Marina chortled, and together they left the airport and headed home, both eager to rest and even more eager to wake up next to each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my friend Morgan, who's wonderful art is included and inspired this fic! Definitely give them a follow! Both their Twitter and Tumblr are @SplattedOon! And if you want, you can follow me on Twitter too @bugatbirth


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